8 Things You Didn’t Know About Pac-Man

If you think about the 80’s video games, especially the arcade type, chances are that a certain round character will be what pops to your mind first. And yes, it’s the iconicPacmanwe’re talking about, one of the most memorable characters in video game history.

There’s a solid chance you’re a big Pacman fan yourself and in that case, you probably think that you know everything about the little adversary of evil Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, but don’t be so certain, as we have some interesting trivia for you. Everyone loves fun facts, so check out eight things you didn’t know about Pac-Man below.

1. Pac-Man was initially released asPuck-Man. The original name came from the Japanese word ‘paku,’ which means ‘chomp.’ Seeing how the name was too similar with a certain English F word, the company decided to make a change, ultimately creating the iconic Pac-Man name.

Funnily enough, this very bit of trivia was featured prominently (twice!) inScott Pilgrim vs. The World, one of our favorite flicks here atIt Goes To 11. Watch the relevant clip, embedded below for easy reference!

2. Pac-Man was officially confirmed as the most recognizable video game character by the Guinness Book of World Records. Interestingly enough, an astonishing figure of 94 percent of Americans immediately recognized the distinctive yellow character.

3. The original Pac-Man design was based on a pizza with a single slice cut off. You probably see the iconic look regularly on random 80’s t-shirtssome of the people on the street are always wearing.4. The highest possible score in the original arcade Pac-Man version can be achieved by playing the so-called perfect game. To reach the perfect game, the player needs to bag the maximum score on the first 255 levels by eating every possible dot, fruit, power pellet and enemy ghost, and then get the maximum score once again at the final level, the so-called split screen level at which the game crashes. The maximum number of points sums up to a total of 3,333,360.

Below, the first level, played to perfection.

5. Each of the ghosts chasing Pac-Man – Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde — has a different personality. Blinky and Pinky are the predictable ones as they chase the player in the most direct way. Inky implements the ambush tactics, while Clyde is the most dangerous ghost as his behavior is completely random.

6. Pac-Man was awarded with the Most Successful Coin-Operated Game title by the Guinness Book of World Records committee in 2005.

7. The game was initially designed to attract female players, as the gaming world was mostly consisted of males during the 70’s. In the words of the game’s creator Toru Iwatani, arcade centers were a ”playground for boys. It was dirty and smelly. So we wanted to include female players, so it would become cleaner and brighter.”

8. Pac-Man is also an economic term, as the so-called “Pac-Man defense” refers to a company that is about to be acquired taking over the hostile company instead.